COFFEY, PLUMB, HOMAN AND WASHBURN WIN; WHEELS FLY

CANANDAIGUA, NY...It was a wild night of racing at Canandaigua Speedway last Saturday. Vic Coffey started on the outside pole and took the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature victory, his first at the track this year. John Plumb out powered the competition to pick up his fourth Sportsman feature win at the speedway in 2002. In full fender action, Chad Homan made it two DIRT Pro-Stock wins in 2002. A wild finish to the Street Stock feature saw Steve Washburn bring his overheated number 38 into victory lane for the first time.

Coffey was challenged early in the 35-lap feature by Tim McCreadie. McCreadie swung down low on lap three to claim the lead from Coffey. Coffey charged back, but the yellow flew on lap four when Alan Willoughby looped his car in the second turn.

Coffey regained the lead on the restart and pulled away to a commanding lead over McCreadie, Steve Gray and Joe Beyea. On lap eight, Chuck Bower passed Beyea for fourth. The remainder of the race saw Steve Paine charge all the way up to third. By lap 30 the three lead cars were all running near each other. Coffey proved just too strong as he took the win. McCreadie finished second some 1.267 seconds back. Paine, Bower and Gray rounded out the top five finishers.

The 20-lap DIRT Sportsman feature looked as if it might go green-to-checkers. Gus Hurlburt took the lead at the drop of the green and the field passed through the third and fourth turns four wide. On the second lap John Plumb used an outside move in turn two to pass Hurlburt for the lead. A battle for second seemed to develop between Hurlburt and Eldon Payne Jr..

By the halfway marker Plumb held nearly a ten car lead over Payne Jr.. Todd Henderson and Paul Guererri duked it out for third, with Guererri coming out the better by lap 10. In fifth was Randy Chrysler.

The yellow flew on lap 19, when Ricky VanNeil came to a stop in the fourth turn, setting up a dash to the checkers.  That one lap dash completely changed around the top five. Plumb took the win by .699 seconds over Guererri in second. Randy Chrysler finished a strong third followed by Payne Jr. and Henderson.

Daryl Hilkert was recorded as the leader on the first lap of the 20-lap DIRT Pro-Stock feature. Chad Homan, running in second, used an inside move through the fourth turn to secure the lead from Hilkert on lap four. The yellow flag flew on lap six when newcomer Bill Button looped in the fourth turn. The restart had to be aborted following a multi-car tangle in the first turn which included Hilkert, Dave Conant Jr. and Jipp Ortiz. Ortiz was eligible for a $700 bonus for a back-to-back win from JoshComp if he took the win. This accident completely changed the teams' approach to the race, now hoping to put back together their car just to finish the race.

Hilkert was able to return to the back of the pack, but brought out yet another yellow on lap eight  when he slowed on the speedway surface. Mike Cooper, who had earlier darted through the infield grass on the front stretch, lost a rear wheel on lap 10 to bring out the caution.

Homan held on strong for the remainder of the race and took the win. Jon Miller finished second followed by James Henry, Roger Chrysler and a returning Bobby Lutz. Homan's margin of victory was just .296 seconds over Miller.

The 15-lap Street Stock race proved very eventful. Steve Washburn was the leader at the start of the race, followed by Mike Rasbeck, Mike Murphy and Brad Steinruck. On lap four a wheel-and-axle came off the Jim Cologgi Chevrolet. The wheel hit the fourth turn wall and bounced back towards the track, hitting another car in the side window, which punted the wheel over the tire fence and into the grandstand area. The wheel exited the grandstands through an aisle coming to rest back by the concession area.

Another wheel came off the Tim Burnell car on lap seven. This wheel went bouncing towards the pits and came down on top of the Safety Truck, breaking the windshield and tearing off a side mirror.

Jared LaBarge had taken the lead from Washburn on lap five and seemed to be pulling away from the rest of the field. With just five laps remaining Steinruck took second and took off after LaBarge. Steinruck caught LaBarge and the two came together with just one lap remaining in the third turn. The two lead cars slide high allowing Washburn to sail low by them for the win. Nick Rizzo finished second followed by Blaine Smith, Murphy and Mike Minutolo. Penalties were handed down on Smith and Minutolo for a lap seven jump on a restart which adjusted the top five to being Washburn, Rizzo, Murphy, Steinruck, who came out of the accident and Chris Jacobs in fifth.

The women held their annual "Powderpuff" event with former Street Stock driver Taunya Hance Lovejoy taking the 5-lap win. Twelve cars started the women's race.

This Saturday will see the last regular night of racing as only specials remain on the schedule for the remainder of the year. DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro-Stocks and Street Stocks will all be in action. Gary Tomkins sits just 25 points back behind Steve Paine in the track's modified point race. In the Sportsman division Randy Chrysler looks to be a shoe in as the 2002 Sportsman track champion, leading John Plumb by some 82 points. Race time on Saturday will be at 7 p.m. sharp.

The only two events that will remain in the year are the track championships on August 31, featuring a 50-lapper for the DIRT Modifieds, and the Finger Lakes 100 weekend on September 14.

CANANDAIGUA MOTORS-HEP SALES NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: M. Minutolo, D. Phippen, M. Cuppernell, J. LaBarge, M. Rasbeck.
HEAT 2: T. Burnell, S. Washburn, B. Steinruck, J. Cologgi, B. Peters.
HEAT 3: M. Murphy, J. Burba, L. Lewis, M. Welch, N. Rizzo.

FEATURE (15-laps): STEVE WASHBURN, Nick Rizzo, Mike Murphy, Brad Steinruck, Chris Jacobs, Mike Welch, Jim Burba, Mike Minutolo, Blaine Smith, Brian Lloyd, Bill Ball, Kevin Collins, Mike Cuppernell, Kyle LaVare, Jared LaBarge, Jimmy Brown, Scott Deline, Robert Pierce, Mike Rasbeck, Tim Burnell, Fran Furch, Jim Cologgi, Leroy Lewis, Car 79, Ray Cooper, Darren Phippen, Adam depuy, Beatle Peters.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: C. Homan, R. Chrysler, J. Miller, J. Ortiz, B. Bruno.
HEAT 2: J. Henry, P. Stefanski, M. Cooper, B. Lutz, D. Hilkert.

FEATURE (20-laps): CHAD HOMAN, Jon Miller, James Henry, Roger Chrysler, Bobby Lutz, Bob Bruno, Scott Fremouw, Mike Cooper, Billy Brown, Jipp Ortiz, Dave Conant Jr., Pete Stefanski, Daryl Hilkert, Bill Button.

LADIES RACE (5-LAPS): TAUNYA HANCE LOVEJOY (Winner)

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: R. Chrysler, J. Pfeffer, R. Payne Jr., T. henderson, P. LaVare, R. Briggs, K. Stell.
HEAT 2: P. Guererri, J. Plumb, R. VanNeil, G. Hurlburt, F. Burnell, A. Pfeffer, S. Joy.

FEATURE (20-laps): JOHN PLUMB, Paul Guererri, Randy Chrysler, Eldon Payne Jr., Todd Henderson, John Pfeffer, Richard Briggs, Frank Burnell, Scott Joy, Ricky VanNeil, Gus Hurlburt, Keith Stell, Phil LaVare, Rob Bussey, Gary Hoteling, Amy Pfeffer, Andrew Joy, Tim Burns, DNS: Scott Mitchell.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: C. Bower, S. Gray, B. McCreadie, G. Tatich, M. Bliss.
HEAT 2: V. Coffey, R. Miller, K. Comfort, D. Ruggles, C. Donk.
HEAT 3: S. Paine, T. McCreadie, G. Tomkins, J. Beyea, C. Hebing.

FEATURE (35-laps): VIC COFFEY, Tim McCreadie, Steve Paine, Chuck Bower, Steve Gray, Gary Tomkins, Bob McCreadie, Charlie Donk, Joe Beyea, Chuck Hebing, Karl Comfort, Ray Bliss Jr., Darryl Ruggles, Derrick Podsiadlo, Aaron Jacobus, Randy Miller, Greg Tatich, Alan Willoughby, Mike Bliss, Billy Decker, DNS: Vince Vitale.